The present invention relates to automated navigation of aircraft using reference data.
A paper, entitled "New Guidance Technique Being Tested" published in Aviation Week & Space Technology, Feb. 25, 1974, pages 48 to 51, describes a terrain-contour-matching guidance technique using topographic data for controlling a guidance system for cruise missiles, balistic missile, re-entry vehicles, etc. The system requires a running update of actual position data to be referenced against stored topographic reference data. The system uses specifically the principle of correlation to determine the actual position of the wall. The system has an inherent limitation as to accuracy because the source material (topographic maps, stero aerial pictures, etc.) are rather inaccurate and provide only very low resolution reference data. For many purposes, such as the guidance of tactical nuclear weapons, the resolution is sufficient. An aircraft or the like with a non-nuclear, conventional warhead, however, is not adequately accurately guided in that manner.